


Eyewitness

by Burning_Nightingale



Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, F/M, M/M, Spaceships, Survival, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2155266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burning_Nightingale/pseuds/Burning_Nightingale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Rhodey are experiencing the end of human civilization, and it seems all they can do is watch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyewitness

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how well this went. Haven't properly written these characters before, but I had to participate in Apocalyptothon! 
> 
> Hope you like it, requester!

Debate over the space station’s name was a point of contention for months after Tony first proposed the idea.

He wanted something simple, but striking. ‘Iron Man’was a good example of what he wanted to go for; it gave an idea of the thing _and_ it sounded awesome. That’s why he liked ‘Stark Station 5’ – being as it was a space station, it belonged to him, and the fifth draft of the design was the one he had decided to put into production, it seemed logical.

Pepper, ever the marketing exec, insisted they needed something more…well, her word was inspirational, but Tony would have called her suggestions _pretentious_. Pinnacle, Vision, Aspire…none of them really spoke to him, as he emphatically informed her. The word ‘trite’ may have been used once or twice.

The board that had been set up to represent the companies collaborating with Stark Industries on the project eventually decided they liked the name Olympus, which Tony decided was slightly better, on balance.

 _Olympus_ launched just about on schedule, and the party held to celebrate was, predictably, large. It was also _on_ the station, which gave everyone attending the unique experience of being drunk in space. After that night, Tony was glad he’d decided to develop artificial gravity.

The station ran for a year, seeking contact from other intelligent life, mapping out the stars. It wasn’t successful with the contact aspect, but the mapping was going well, as far as Tony could tell. He was having a good time learning about astronomy – almost as much fun as Jane and Erik seemed to be having working on the station, in fact.

To celebrate the year anniversary, and by popular demand, they held another party on the station. Tony invited everyone he knew, and everyone he knew actually managed to attend – well, those he cared about knowing, anyway.

“I can’t believe I’m in space,” Steve said, staring out of the viewport. It was the same viewport he’d been staring out of for the past fifteen minutes, which was getting slightly old.

“You should’ve told me you wanted to come up earlier,” Tony grinned. “I could’ve given you a ride.”

“I think he’s still slightly uncomfortable,” Natasha said with a small smile.

Steve shook his head. “I’ll get used to it, I’ll get used to it.”

“The research you’re doing up here is really groundbreaking,” Tony could hear Bruce enthusing behind him, most likely to Jane. “I’ve been following the findings through Tony…”

“The chance to study things up close has been pivotal in what we’re trying to do,” he heard Jane agree. He smiled; they’d probably be happy chatting for at least another hour. Normally he might have joined them, but as Clint and Natasha walked over to stand by Steve he noticed one person was missing. Scanning the area, he found him over by another viewport, alone.

He wandered casually over and stood looking out for a moment before he quietly asked, “Alright?”

Rhodey snorted. “Just wondering how someone like me got in a position to see a view like this.”

“Charm and ruthless cunning, obviously,” Tony quipped. After a few moments he offered, “Drink?”

“Sure.” They moved away from the viewport and back down the small corridor that led to the main party room. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but his attention was caught by the figure who appeared at the end of the hallway.

A familiar, tall, muscled, obnoxiously blond figure in a red cape, to be exact.

“Thor!” he said, throwing out his arms. “You made it! I mean I would’ve sent you an invitation, but I don’t exactly have your home address…” He trailed off when he saw Thor wasn’t smiling. “Something wrong?”

“Your operation here has attracted attention,” Thor said seriously, reaching them. “The wrong kind of attention. You are being approached by-”

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the shudder that rocked the station, as if something had hit it. Screams were heard from down the hall, and the other Avengers came rushing over.

Thor put an arm around Jane’s shoulders when she came to stand beside him, but otherwise dispensed with any sort of greeting. “You are under attack,” he stated. “Unless you have some kind of defence, you need to evacuate the station.”

The whole structure rocked again from another hit. “No defence,” Tony said, “but there are escape capsules.”

Guests were appearing from the main room down the hall, looking panicked. “What’s happening, Mr Stark?” one of them called.

“Debris hitting the station,” Tony called after a moment. “Everyone needs to evacuate to the escape capsules. That way!” He pointed, and was almost thrown off his feet by another hit.

“Debris?” Steve snapped. “You can’t lie-”

“We don’t want a panic,” Tony retorted, already pushing past Thor and towards the main room.

Inside, Pepper was on the raised dais, imploring everyone to keep calm. She spotted him immediately and motioned him over. The floor rocked and bucked twice in quick succession, and warning sirens began to blare, indicating an impending oxygen or artificial gravity failure.

“Everyone that way!” Tony yelled, waving his arms. “To the escape capsules! No dawdling!”

Luckily the party was small, limited to no more than forty guests, and they began to move quickly in the direction he’d indicated. Another hit rocked the floor, and the warning sirens stepped up a notch.

The other Avengers, along with Jane and Rhodey, gathered around him, and he waved them in the same direction as everyone else. “We can’t do anything here. This station wasn’t built to sustain much damage, and it has no weapons. If someone’s out there shooting at us, we’re sitting ducks.”

As they moved down the thin corridor, he turned to Thor. “How do you even know about this, big guy?”

“Heimdall saw it,” Thor said, “But these invaders are stealthy. Even he did not notice them until it was almost too late.”

“How did you even get here?” Clint asked from behind.

“The airlock,” Thor said expansively.

“For a station that’s not built to sustain damage, we’re doing awfully well,” Natasha pointed out. They had reached the room housing the capsules; several were already away, with personnel guiding guests and other employees into the ones remaining.

“I fear these invaders mean to disable and board,” Thor said darkly. “You will notice there has been no hit in the past minute.”

Everyone was quiet with this realization. “If we can fight them-” Steve started.

Thor shook his head. “No. You will have a better chance on the ground, I think.”

“Mr Stark!” one of the personnel by the capsules was waving at him. “This one is ready!”

Tony looked around, sudden fear gripping his chest. “Pepper’s not here,” he hissed. “Where is she? Did anyone see her?”

“She was on the dais,” Bruce said hesitantly.

“I will go back and look for her,” Thor said. “You must all get away before they board.”

“What about you, how will you get off?” Steve asked.

Thor grinned grimly. “I will take my chances. Now go.”

“I’d rather stay,” Steve insisted.

“Please, heed me,” Thor said, laying a hand on Steve’s arm. “You will have a better chance in a less hostile environment.”

A computerized voice began to blare out a warning around them. “ _Artificial gravity failure imminent; artificial gravity failure imminent._ ”

“We can’t go without Pepper,” Tony insisted.

“I will find her,” Thor repeated.

“I think we better do what Thor says. He’s the one who knows about space,” Clint said.

Tony could hear one of the personnel yelling behind him, but he couldn’t make his feet move, not even as Natasha and Steve agreed with Clint and began to move. Jane went up on her tiptoes to give Thor a quick kiss, and then she and Erik began to move as well.

He felt a hand on his arm. “He’ll find her,” Rhodey’s voice said. “We gotta go before the gravity fails.”

Tony let Rhodey lead him away towards a capsule. Steve, Natasha and Clint had already gotten into one with a group of personnel, and Jane and Erik were heading to another with what seemed to be the rest of the employees. Bruce eyed the capsules critically before saying, “I think it would be best if we split up for the ride down. The big guy can get nervous in confined spaces.”

“That doesn’t leave a capsule for Thor and Pepper,” Rhodey pointed out.

“I figure he has his own way of leaving,” Bruce said matter-of-factly.

Tony lurched suddenly, his balance seeming off. He realized he was beginning to float slightly. “The artificial gravity is failing,” he said.

“We’ll see you on the ground!” he heard Steve call, and the door to their capsule closed. There was a hiss and a thud as it detached. On the other side, the capsule containing Jane and Erik did the same.

Bruce clambered into his capsule. “As they said, see you down there.” The door hissed closed behind him.

Rhodey had to grab his arm to get him to move. They climbed into the capsule and Tony began to work the controls almost on instinct. The thud and jolt was much more obvious as their own capsule detached, and it was only then that the reality really hit home. “I left her without a capsule,” Tony whispered.

“Thor’ll find her, Tony,” Rhodey said. “They’ll get out. Trust me.”

“There’s no window, so we can’t see-” He was cut off by warning sirens beeping.

“What? What’s wrong?” Rhodey asked urgently.

Tony tapped the controls. “Artificial gravity is failing in here,” he said, “Hold onto something!”

Rhodey grabbed a rail, and not a moment too soon; unlike on the station, the gravity in the capsule failed suddenly. The whole structure began to rock and bounce, alarms blaring.

“What’s going on?” Rhodey yelled.

“Re-entry!” Tony yelled back. “Hold on tight, this could get bumpy!”

The jolting and bouncing increased, as did the heat. They were both hard-pressed to hold on. The last thing Tony heard was Rhodey yelling his name before his head connected with the side of the capsule and everything went black.

/

He woke to the sound of the ocean. Waves rolling slowly, gently; hitting rocks instead of beach, he thought. He was lying on grass, and he could feel the sun beating down on him. His eyes fluttered open. The sky was a clear blue above, treetops dotting the edges of his vision.

“Awake?” he heard Rhodey’s voice ask.

Tony groaned; the pain in his head was immense. “Just about.”

“You hit your head hard,” Rhodey told him. “The guys on the island here had a first aid kit, though.”

“We’re on an island?” Tony queried, putting a hand to his head. It was covered with a bandage.

“Lokrum,” Rhodey said, appearing above him. He squinted into his eyes for a few moments before nodding. “No concussion, I think.”

“Lokrum?” Tony prompted, slowly sitting up. His head pounded, but it was bearable. A grass lawn surrounded him, ending in a wall, behind which was the sea, if his hearing was right. Trees bordered the lawn on the other sides, some with wooden sun loungers gathered underneath.

“Southern Croatia, just outside the city of Dubrovnik,” Rhodey said. “The mainland is just across the channel, only ten minutes on the ferry.”

“The capsule?”

“Landed in the sea just over there. I couldn’t get it open til it washed up on the shore here.” Rhodey looked over his shoulder. “There’s a small pizza place just up there, where I got the medical kit. They don’t have a phone, though.”

“Can we get back on the ferry?” Tony asked.

Rhodey hesitated. “They’ve stopped running. Everyone’s gone home. They’re saying…” He trailed off.

Tony looked at him. “They’re saying what?”

“Everyone was talking about an alien invasion. Said they were targeting big cities. DC, London, Berlin, Tokyo all got hit, they said. Big spaceships and guns and aliens. I didn’t hear much of the details; everyone wanted to get away but I didn’t want to move you.”

“Whatever attacked the _Olympus_ has moved on to Earth,” Tony said quietly. “Thor couldn’t stop it. If he didn’t get out…”

They sat in silence for a few moments. “For now, we need a place to stay,” Rhodey said practically. “The pizza place runs out of the old monastery. We should be good to sleep in there; everyone’s gone. Think you can walk on your own?”

Together they struggled up to the old monastery. “I guess I can cook pizza,” Rhodey said, looking at the ingredients laid out in the kitchen.

“The trick is to make the dough,” Tony said sagely. “The rest is a breeze.”

After the not-too-disastrous pizza, they went looking for beds. There weren’t any, but there were lots of tablecloths. “This hotel is the height of luxury,” Rhodey joked half-heartedly.

Tony smiled a little, because he knew Rhodey was doing it for him, but he was still worried. About the world, about his friends. Their capsule had had failures; what if the others had had more serious problems? And what on earth had happened to Thor and Pepper?

“You should try and sleep,” Rhodey told him seriously. “You’ll need some strength if we’re going to get off this island.”

Tony agreed, and they laid down, the tablecloths not doing much to soften the monastery’s hard stone floor.

/

The sound of explosions woke them in the middle of the night. “What’s going on?” Tony shouted.

Rhodey listened for a moment. “It’s too distant to be on the island.” They ran down through the corridors and outside into the monastery’s courtyard. The sky was tinged faint orange in one direction, just visible over the roof. “That’s the direction of the city,” Rhodey said quietly.

“We need to get a view of it,” Tony said urgently.

“There’s a fort on the highest point of the island,” Rhodey said, and they took off.

It was almost impossible to see the path in the dark, but the way was well signposted. After running headlong up rough cut steps and a long steeply sloping pathway, they reached Fort Royal, a round eighteenth century tower crowning the top of the hill. Pounding up the modern steps and into the dark interior, it took them a few minutes to navigate their way to the spiral staircase and out onto the top of the tower. When they got there, the source of the orange glow was obvious.

Dubrovnik was burning. A huge black spaceship hovered above the city, raining fire down. Behind the thick medieval walls, buildings were engulfed and consumed, becoming only indistinct shapes in the haze. There was a groan and a rumbling crash as the roof of the ancient cathedral collapsed inward. A resounding crack echoed around the bay as the lines of the cable car suspended above the modern section of the city snapped from the heat, sending the gondolas plunging downward.  

Out of the inferno consuming the harbour, one small boat pushed out, racing away on the black water. It scudded along for a few moments, a beacon of hope, before a fireball from the hovering ship turned it into a bright spot of flame in the dark.

They stood, silent, side by side, watching the city burn long into the night.

“This is on me,” Tony whispered when the light of dawn was beginning to colour the eastern sky. “If I had never suggested that station…”

“It wasn’t just you,” Rhodey murmured. “Others agreed. Others funded it, built it.”

“But they wouldn’t have done it without me.”

Rhodey didn’t have an answer to that. “Come inside,” he said.

“No,” Tony shook his head. “I have to watch. Someone should watch.”

/

The aliens, whatever they were, didn’t bother looking for survivors on their tiny island. Still, Rhodey deemed the monastery unsafe, theorizing that it would be the first place they would look, so they moved up to the fort. Rhodey extracted the radio from their smashed up capsule, and placed it in front of Tony in the cool darkness of the fort. “Fix it,” he implored. “It’ll give you something to do.”

Tony nodded. “Bring it over to the light.”

While Tony fixed the radio, Rhodey explored the island. Not much else was revealed; two reservoirs for fighting forest fires, a few landing piers for boats, one cottage for the island watchman, which was deserted. He raided it for food and supplies, then did a separate run to gather everything from the monastery. When he got back to the fort the second time, Tony was fiddling with the dials on the radio. “It’s working,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone out there to reply.”

A heavy silence fell. _We can’t be alone_ , Rhodey thought. _It’s been a day_. “There must be someone else, somewhere,” he said quietly. “We’ll find them.”

/

By the time they did make contact, Rhodey was the one operating the radio. Tony had taken to sitting outside, staring over at the burnt out hulk of the old city, uncommunicative. Rhodey’s attempts to get through to him were met with only limited success.

He managed to get hold of Steve and Natasha, of all people. They said their radio had been damaged in their crash, but they’d managed to repair it. They’d come down in Albania somewhere, and had had to abandon the capsule due to encroaching alien attacks. “They’re everywhere around here,” Natasha said, her voice crackling in and out on the patchy frequency. “Huge things in suits, with big guns. They don’t seem to have a motive beyond killing people.”

“If you can get here, they seem to have ignored the island,” Rhodey told her.

“We’ll see what we can do,” she promised.

They kept in contact. Bruce’s voice crackled through unexpectedly once or twice, too, from the desert in Turkey, apparently.

“I have a source of water,” he told them, sounding almost serene. “I can hold out.”

“What about the governments?” Rhodey asked, a week after they first made contact. “Is there any news? Any fighting back? Anything?”

A long silence greeted his words. “There’s…nothing,” Steve said eventually, hesitantly.

“Nothing we’ve heard,” Natasha corrected.

/

One night they decided to go outside and stargaze. Or rather, Rhodey decided; Tony just sort of followed him. They lay, still and silent, for a long time before Tony whispered, “They must have died. Up there on the station.”

Rhodey didn’t need to ask who. “We have Steve, and Clint, and Natasha and Bruce.”

“And no one else,” Tony said quietly. “There’s no one. No resistance, no nothing. And no help coming.”

“We don’t know that.”

“It’s a pretty sure thing.”

Rhodey gazed up at the stars. “There must be something. Someone else out there.”

Tony shook his head minutely. “I think this is it, buddy,” he whispered. “We’re watching the end. The downfall of the human race. And all attracted by that stupid station.” Unexpectedly, Tony let out a bitter, sharp laugh. “I so wanted to call that thing Stark Station 5. I should’ve just gone for it, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey agreed quietly. “Maybe you should.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the sad, the open ending and the pretty much complete lack of any Tony/Rhodey. I kind of feel bad even putting the tag on it ^^; I tried! 
> 
> Thanks for reading :D


End file.
